Community Food Advisor

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Program Description

The Community Food Advisor (CFA) program was developed to meet community needs, through volunteers with practical food and nutrition knowledge and skills. Combing life and other experiences, along with an extensive training program, Community Food Advisors (CFAs) share their knowledge and skills on food and healthy eating.

The goal of the CFA program was to improve and promote safe and nutritious food selection, preparation and storage practices in Ontario by increasing individual and group access to reliable information and education.

Program History and Current Status

The Community Food Advisor (CFA) program was developed in 1991 by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and co-funded by Ontario Ministry of Health. From 2001 to 2012, the CFA program was coordinated by the Nutrition Resource Centre (NRC) at the Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA). In 2013, the CFA program was transferred to the OPHA, which provided provincial coordination and administration with short-term funding from OMAFRA.

As of October 2014, provincial oversight and administrative support by OPHA for the CFA program ceased. Despite this, program materials are still available and are provided below. Training and reference materials include the CFA Resource Manual, CFA Training Program, resources for CFAs, and CFA reports and evaluations.

For information about the CFA programs that continue to run independently in communities across Ontario, please visit:

The original CFA Resource Manual was produced by the OMAFRA in 1994. It was revised in 2002, 2004, 2008 and lastly, in 2013 by the NRC.

The Resource Manual was the main reference for CFAs during training and after being certified as a CFA. During training, the Manual is used as a reference for in class and at home activities as well as for any tests. Download the complete 2013 Manual here. The manual contains the following information:

The CFA training program integrates information on healthy eating, food safety, and food selection, preparation and storage, with skills for becoming an effective facilitator and leader.

The training program is made up of 10 core sessions, plus two sessions for the Food Handler Training/Certification Course. Historically, CFAs-in-training must complete the Core Sessions and the Food Handler Training Course for certification as a CFA (along with two presentations or demonstrations to community groups).

Cooking Basics for Adults is a series of 5 ready-to-use cooking lessons developed for the CFA Program. The lesson topics were chosen as a result of a survey of cooking class participants and input from CFA groups. The lessons will help participants develop cooking and other food skills such as recipe reading, meal planning, budgeting, and adapting recipes, while being introduced to new foods. To access each complete lesson, click on the lesson title below.

Annual Summary Reports were completed by each site every calendar year. Each site submitted details on their numbers of active CFAs, CFAs in training, presentations provided, reach, volunteer hours, etc. Data was summarized in the following reports:

The CFA Program has been evaluated four times at the provincial level. The CFA Program's most recent evaluation was conducted in 2010. It looked at how the CFA Training Program supported training in food skills. The program was found to provide training on most of the recognized components of "food skills". Eleven recommendations for enhancement were made. The full report is available here: 2011 CFA Program and Food Skills Training Evaluation Report

Operating under the Ontario Public Health Association since 1999, the NRC strengthens the capacity of health promotion professionals and community partners involved in healthy eating and nutrition across the health continuum. Through networking and collaboration, the NRC is fostering knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) and is building a centre of excellence in evidence-based resources and tools to support program and policy development throughout Ontario.